Tower crane truck



DevC- l2 1967 ATsuse-n YOSHIOKA 3,357,572

TOWER CRANE TRUCK FiledJune l5, 1966 l 4 Sheets-Sheet l Dec- 12, 1957 h ATSUSHI YOSHIKA 3,357,572

TOWER CRANE TRUCK Filed June 15, '196e v 4 sheets-sheet z Dc- 12, 1967 l ATsUsHI YosHloKA 3,357,572

TOWER CRANE TRUCK Filed June 15, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Dec. l2, 1967 ATsQsHl YosHloKA 3,357,572

TOWER CRANE TRUCK Filed June l5, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet United States Patent O 3,357,572 TOWER CRANE TRUCK Atsushi Yoshioka, Tokyo, Japan, assgnor to Kyoei Kaihatsu Co., Ltd.,.Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan Filed June 15, 1966, Ser. No. 557,694 AClaims priority, application Japan, Nov. 29, 1965, 40/72,88tl 7 Claims. (Cl. 212-46) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A tower crane truck having an outrigger means to station the truck securely on the ground and a hydraulically operated extensible column means having one end pivoted on a column supporter on a truck chassis so as to be turned up and down by a hydraulic cylinder means. A boom member is also provided which has one end pivoted at the upper end of the column means along with a first rope means for controlling the position of the column means and the boom member through a set of links, A guide pulley means is utilized to facilitate compact folding of the links in conjunction with the column means and the boom member.

This invention relates to -a novel tower crane truck.

In order to operate a tower crane over and across a high structure, it is necessary to have a high column in conjunction with a long boom to provide a substantially large space available for maneuvering the crane. A tower crane having such a high column and a long boom is usually large in size, and it has been extremely diicult to mount such a tower crane in a motor truck.

An object of the invention is to provide a tower crane truck having a collapsible tower crane so adapted as to be mounted on the motor truck to make it mobile by the power of the motor truck.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the tower crane truck comprises a chassis frame of the truck havingan Outrigger means, a rotating base placed on said chassis frame and having at least a first and a second winch and a column supporter secured thereon, an extensible column means having one end thereof pivoted at said column supporter so as to be turned up and down between horizontal and upright positions by a hydraulic cylinder means, a boom member having one end thereof pivoted at one side of the upper end of said extensible column means, a rst link `of a certain predetermined length having one end thereof pivoted at said side of the upperend of the extensible vcolumn means, a second link ofa certain predetermined length having one end thereof pivoted by a shaft at another side of the upper end of said extensible column means, a first wire rope means connecting the tip end of said boom member to said first winch through the free ends of said first and second links, a guide pulley pivotallysupported by said shaft to guide said first wire rope means at least when the collapsible tower crane is folded, and a second wire rope means for causing reciprocation of a hook depending from the tip end of the boom member, said second wire rope means extending from saidY hook i along said boom member, a pulley located at the pivoted end of the boom member, and the extensible column means, to said second winch.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference is taken to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. l is a side view illustrating a tower crane truck embodying the invention, shown as ready for travelling as a motor truck with the tower crane thereof folded;

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the same;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration showing the entire crane truck with its tower crane unfolded to different operative forms for lifting goods; and

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FIG. 4 is a partial enlarged view of the collapsible tower crane carried by the tower crane truck, showing essential portions thereof.

Throughout the accompanying drawings, the same reference numerals represent the same means, members or elements of the device of the invention respectively.

Referring to FIGS. l and 2, the reference numeral 1 designates the chassis frame of a motor truck, 2 tires, and 3 a cab of the truck.

According to a preferred form of the invention, an outrigger means 4 is so provided as to extend on each side of the chassis frame 1, said outrigger means comprises two pairs of hydraulic support jacks positioned at the front and rear end portions of the frame. It is, however, permissible to use any other form of the Outrigger means suitable for stationing the tower crane truck securely on the ground. A turn table 5 is mounted on the rear portion of the chassis frame 1 to support a rotating base 6 thereon, which in turn supports rst and second Winches 7 and 8 together with a column supporter 9. An extensible column means 16, which comprises an outer column member 10a and an inner column member ltib (FIG. 3) slidably fitted within said outer column member so as to be extended by a hydraulic cylinder (not shown), is pivotally supported on the column supporter 9, and a hydraulic cylinder 11 is mounted between the extensible column means 10 and the rotating base 6 in order to turn up the column means 10 from its horizontal rest position to its upright operative position and to turn down the same in the opposite direction.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the base portion of a boom member 12 is pivoted to a shaft 13 located at one side of the top end 10b of the inner member 10b of the extensible column means 10, which shaft 13 also supports one end of the rst link 14 of a certain predetermined length. Another shaft 16 located at the opposite side of said top end 10b' acts to pivot one end of the second link 15 together with a guide pulley 17. A wire rope section 18 connects the tip end of the boom member 12 to the free end of the first link 14, while another wire rope section 19 extends between free ends of the first and second links 14 and 15. There is provided a pulley assembly 23 consisting of the wire rope 20 of the first winch 7 and pulleys 21, 22. One end of the assembly is connected to the rotating base 6 through a wire rope section 24 while the opposite end thereof being connected to the free end of the second link 15 through a wire rope section 25, as shown in detail in FIG. 4.

There is a wire rope 27 connected to a hook 26 at one end 'thereof in order to suspend the hook from the tip end of the boom member 12 and to cause vertical reciprocation of the hook. The opposite end of the wire rope 27 is wound on the drum of the second Winch 8, while the intermediate portion of the wire rope 27 extends through a pulley 28 located at the tip end of the boom member 12, pulleys 29 disposed along the span of the boom member, another pulley 30 at the pivoted portion of the boom member 12, and a pulley 31 rotatably supported on the rotating base 6. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, at least one wire rope guy element 32 is spanned between the top end of the column means 10 and that corner of the rotating base 6 which is opposite to the column supporter 9, in order to prevent overturn of the column means 10 from its upright position. A contractible lever 33 having a hinge 33a secured at an intermediate position thereof is inserted between the shaft 16 -on the top 10b' of the column means 10 and the boom member 12, so that when the boom member 12 is turned up to its uppermost position, the contractible lever 33 may be shortened to its minimum length. Thereby, any further swing or overturn of the boom member 12 in a counter-clockwise direction as Viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4 is prevented effectively. Such contractible lever 33 can be easily designed and constructed by those skilled in the art, and hence, no further description about the lever will be made here. The hinge 33a makes it possible to fold the contractible lever 33 in such a direction as to facilitate folding of the entire collapsible tower crane as shown in FIG. 1, however, it is of course impossibie to bend the lever 33 in the direction opposite to said folding.

The operative procedure of the tower crane truck of the invention will now be described in further detail referring to an embodiment shown in the drawings. One can sit in the cab 3 to drive the tower crane truck to a desired location for operation while carrying the collapsible tower crane folded on the truck as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Upon arrival at the desired location for operation, the Outrigger means 4 is at first actuated to station the entire tower crane truck steadfastly at the desired location, and then the hydraulic cylinder 11 is actuated and elongated so as to turn up the column means 10 from its horizontal rest position as shown in FIG. l to its upright operative position as shown in FIG. 3. As soon as the column means 10 is brought up to its upright position, the wire rope element 32 is spanned tightly to prevent any further swinging of the column means 10. At this moment, the boom member 12 is held vertical along the column means 10. As the first winch 7 is actuated to take up the wire rope 21'), the tip end of the boom member 12 is gradually raised through the pulley assembly 23, the wire rope section 25, the second link 15, the wire rope section 19, the first link 14, and the wire rope section 18. During the above upward movement of the tip end of the boom member 12, the first and second links 14 and 15 act as moment arms, and thus, smooth rotation of the boom member 12 around the upper end of the column means 10 is ensured at any angular position thereof. For instance, the boom member 12 can be turned up from the vertical position A through the horizontal position B to the uppermost position C, as illustrated in FIG. 3. Upon arrival of the boom member at its uppermost position C, the contractible lever 33 is shortened to its minimum length and the boom member cannot be rotated any further in a direction to raise its tip end higher.

The hook 26 can be reciprocated vertically at will through the wire rope means 27 by operating the second winch 8. With the tower crane of the invention, it is possible to operate the hook 26 at a position still higher than that corresponding to the aforementioned uppermost position of the boom member. If the inner column member 10b of the column means 10 is further raised vertically, then the boom member 12 can be maneuvered freely at a position thus raised, as shown by chain lines in the upper portion of FIG. 3.

Furthermore, the tower crane assembly can be horizontally rotated as a whole around the center of the turntable 5 to any desired angular position by rotating the rotating base 6, thereby the tower crane can be operated so as to cover a considerably large area surrounding the truck' Upon completion of the operation, the collapsible tower crane can be folded again on the truck. The inner column member b is lowered at first so as to tit within the outer column member 16a thereof, and then the rotating base 6 is turned to its rest position suitable for driving the motor truck. Thereafter, the :first winch 7 is released to turn the boom member 12 downward to its vertical position along the column means 10, and the hydraulic cylinder 11 is contracted so as to turn down the column means 10 together with the boom member 12 to their horizontal position to make the collapsible tower crane ready for travelling, as shown in FIG. 1. It should be noted here that the wire rope section 25 extending between the free end of the second link 15 and the pulley assembly 2'3 is also bent along the guide pulley 17 when the column means 10 and the boom member 12 are held at horizontal positions on the motor truck, as shown in FIG. 1. Upon retrieval of the Outrigger means 4 to a position assumed during transportation of the tower crane truck, the entire tower crane truck is made ready for travelling.

As described in the foregoing, according to the invention, a collapsible tower crane can be constructed in such a fashion that when the tower crane is going to be operated, the crane can be unfolded into a full size of considerably large dimensions to handle goods freely and eX- tensively, as illustrated in FIG. 3, while when the tower crane is going to be moved, it can be folded into a compact form, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, so that one may drive the tower crane truck as an ordinary motor truck Without any diliculty. Furthermore, the collapsible tower crane of the invention is simple in construction, and both the column means and the boom member thereof can be easily and quickly folded and unfolded. Therefore, the invention provides a considerable mobility to conventional tower crane devices to simplify and quicken the handling of such tower cranes, thus the invention contributes greatly to the industry.

What I claim is:

1. A tower crane truck comprising outrigger means mounted on the chassis frame of said truck to station the truck securely on the ground; a base member rotatably mounted on said chassis frame; at least a rst and a second winch and a hydraulic cylinder means disposed on said base member; extensible column means having one end pivoted at said base member and operatively connected to said hydraulic cylinder means, so as to be turned up and down between horizontal and upright positions by said hydraulic cylinder means, said column means consisting of an outer column member, and an inner column member slidably fitted within said outer column member so as t-o reciprocate vertically therethrough; extension means for said column means comprising a lower cylinder secured to said outer column member, and upper piston member secured to said inner column member and slidable telescopically with the lower cylinder, and means for providing pressurized fluid into said cylinder; a boom member having one end thereof pivoted at one side of the upper end of said column means; a first link means having one end thereof pivotally supported at said one side of the upper end of the column means; a second link means having one end thereof pivotally supported at the other side of said upper end of hte column means; said first and second link means being adapted to pivot at the top of said column means to such extent that the free ends of the link means are kept in contact with the outer column member surface when the assembly is folded; a first wire rope means connecting the tip end of said boom member to said -rst winch through the free ends of said first and second link means; a guide pulley mounted at said other side of said upper end of the column means and extending coaxially with said one end of said second link means, said guide pulley adapted to guide said rst wire rope means when the assembly is folded; hook means; a second wire rope means connected to said second Winch and said hook means for reciprocating said hook means to and from the other end of the boom member, said second wire rope means extending from said hook means along said boom member and column means; and additional guide pulley means supporting said second wire rope means and including additional pulleys located at the pivoted joint between the boom member and the column means and distributed along the column means at predetermined intervals.

2. A tower crane truck according to claim 1, wherein said extensible column means comprises a substantially square outer column member of truss structure and a substantially square inner column member of truss structure slidably tted within said outer column member, said lower cylinder and said upper piston being disposed substantially at the geometrical axis of said outer and inner column members, respectively.

3. A tower crane truck comprising outri'gger means mounted on the chassis frame of said truck to station the truck securely on the ground; a base member rotatably mounted on said chassis frame; at least one winch means and hydraulic cylinder means disposed on said base member; extensible column means having one end pivoted at said base member and operatively connected to said hydraulic cylinder means, so as to be turned up and down between horizontal and upright positions by said hydraulic cylinder means; means for extending said column means; a boom member having one end thereof pivoted at one side of the upper end of said column means; a rst link means having one end thereof pivotally sup ported at said one side of the upper end of the column means; a second link means having one end thereof pivotally supported at the other side of said upper end of the column means; said iirst and second link means being adapted to pivot at the top of said column means to such extent that the free ends of the link means are kept in contact with the outer surface of said column means when the assembly is folded; a wire rope means connecting the tip end of said boom member to one of said winch means through the free ends of said first and second link means; and a Iguide pulley mounted at said other side of said upper end of the column means and extending coaxially with said one end of said second link means, said guide pulley adapted to guide said wire rope means when the assembly is folded.

4. A tower crane truck according to claim 3, wherein said column means comprises a substantially square outer column member of truss structure and a substantially square inner column member of truss Structure slidably tted within said outer column member.

5. A tower crane truck according to claim 4, wherein said means for extending said column means comprises a cylinder and a piston disposed substantially at the geometrical axis of said outer and inner column members, respectively, said piston being slidable telescopically with said lower cylinder, and means for supplying pressurized fluid into said cylinder.

`6. A tower crane truck according to claim 3, further comprising tool means, and an additional wire rope means connected to said tool means and to one of said winch means for reciprocating said tool means to and -from the other end of said boom member, said additional wire rope means extending lfrom said hook means along said boom member and said column means.

7. A tower crane truck according to claim 6, further comprising additional guide pulley means supporting said additional wire rope means and including additional pulleys located at the pivoted joint between the boom member and the column means and distributed along the column means at predetermined intervals.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,037,641 6/ 1962 Potter et al. 212-144 3,083,837 4/ 1963 Jones et al. 212-144 3,134,488 5/ 1964 Brekelbaum et al. 212--46 3,300,061 1/ 1967 Bamford 212--144 ANDRES H. NIELSEN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A TOWER CRANE TRUCK COMPRISING OUTRIGGER MEANS MOUNTED ON THE CHASSIS FRAME OF SAID TRUCK TO STATION THE TRUCK SECURELY ON THE GROUND; A BASE MEMBER ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID CHASSIS FRAME; AT LEAST A FIRST AND A SECONE WINCH AND A HYDRAULIC CYLINDER MEANS DISPOSED ON SAID BASE MEMBER; EXTENSIBLE COLUMN MEANS HAVING ONE END PIVOTED AT SAID BASE MEMBER AND OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID HYDRAULIC CYLINDER MEANS, SO AS TO BE TURNED UP AND DOWN BETWEEN HORIZONTAL AND UPRIGHT POSITIONS BY SAID HYDRAULIC CYLINDER MEANS, SAID COLUMN MEANS CONSISTING OF AN OUTER COLUMN MEMBER, AND AN INNER COLUMN MEMBER SLIDABLY FITTED WITHIN SAID OUTER COLUMN MEMBER SO AS TO RECIPROCATE VERTICALLY THERETHROUGH; EXTENSION MEANS FOR SAID COLUMN MEANS COMPRISING A LOWER CYLINDER SECURED TO SAID OUTER COLUMN MEMBER, AND UPPER PISTON MEMBER SECURED TO SAID INNER COLUMN MEMBER AND SLIDABLE TELESCOPICALLY WITH THE LOWER CYLINDER, AND MEANS FOR PROVIDING PRESSURIZED FLUID INTO SAID CYLINDER; A BOOM MEMBER HAVING ONE END THEREOF PIVOTED AT ONE SIDE OF THE UPPER END OF SAID COLUMN MEANS; A FIRST LINK MEANS HAVING ONE END THEREOF PIVOTALLY SUPPORTED AT SAID ONE SIDE OF THE UPPER END OF THE COLUMN MEANS; A SECOND LINK MEANS HAVING ONE END THEREOF PIVOTALLY SUPPORTED AT THE OTHER SIDE OF SAID UPPER END OF THE COLUMN MEANS; SAID FIRST AND SECOND LINK MEANS BEING ADAPTED TO PIVOT AT THE TOP OF SAID COLUMN MEANS TO SUCH EXTENT THAT THE FREE ENDS OF THE LINK MEANS ARE KEPT IN CONTACT WITH THE OUTER COLUMN MEMBER SURFACE WHEN THE ASSEMBLY IS FOLDED; A FIRST WIRE ROPE MEANS CONNECTING THE TIP END OF SAID BOOM MEMBER TO SAID FIRST WINCH THROUGH THE FREE ENDS OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND LINK MEANS; A GUIDE PULLEY MOUNTED AT SAID OTHER SIDE OF SAID UPPER END OF THE COLUMN MEANS AND EXTENDING COAXIALLY WITH SAID ONE END OF SAID SECOND LINK MEANS, SAID GUIDE PULLEY ADAPTED TO GUIDE SAID FIRST WIRE ROPE MEANS WHEN THE ASSEMBLY IS FOLDED; HOOK MEANS; A SECONE WIRE ROPE MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID SECOND WINCH AND SAID HOOK MEANS FOR RECIPROCATING SAID HOOK MEANS TO AND FROM THE OTHER END OF THE BOOM MEMBER, SAID SECOND WIRE ROPE MEANS EXTENDING FROM SAID HOOK MEANS ALONG SAID BOOM MEMBER AND COLUMN MEANS; AND ADDITIONAL GUIDE PULLEY MEANS SUPPORTING SAID SECOND WIRE ROPE MEANS AND INCLUDING ADDITIONAL PULLEYS LOCATED AT THE PIVOTED JOINT BETWEEN THE BOOM MEMBER AND THE COLUMN MEANS AND DISTRIBUTED ALONG THE COLUMN MEANS AT PREDETERMINED INTERVALS. 